HR PRO WITH A PEOPLE FIRST PERSPECTIVE

8 Unsettling Facts About Bad Bosses

We spend so much of our days, our LIVES, at work. In a perfect world, we’d all have great managers, wonderful co-workers, exciting and fulfilling jobs, fair and competitive pay, flexibility, etc. Unfortunately, all too often, this is not the case. If we’re lucky, we may have one or two of these things; but having ALL of them is rare. When people begin to feel that what is missing > what is present or that what is missing (or present) is too much to bear, they start to look for employment elsewhere. It’s only natural.Though we know there are varying factors that contribute to an employee’s decision to leave a job, the biggest factor is having a bad manager, hence the saying “People don’t leave jobs, they leave managers.”

Unfortunately, I have had as many bad managers as I have had good ones. The worst part is bad managers usually don’t realize they’re bad. In some instances they may even think they are good or GREAT managers. Those are really the worst ones because they see no room for improvement and don’t bother learning how to be an effective leader – which is more important than being simply a manager. I could go on and on but the infographic below gets straight to the point.

Note: I abhor the term ‘boss.’ In what universe is one person another person’s boss?? Manager, yes. Supervisor, sure. But boss? That term just doesn’t sit right with me. Don’t even get me started on ‘superior.’